Laikipia county, NGO start bid to protect animals

Agriculture executive Lucy Murugi flags off a truck in Nanyuki yesterday during the launch of a campaign aimed at enhancing protection of animals.(Standard)

An international NGO has launched a campaign to promote protection of animals.

Through the drive, World Animal Protection plans to establish a fund to facilitate swift response in saving animals under threat.

The organisation, which is partnering with county and national governments as well as the University of Nairobi, will set up the Animal Disaster Fund to help animals faced with various threats such as diseases, floods, drought, landslides and fires.

Through the initiative dubbed Animal in Disaster (AiD), World Animal Protection and its partners will establish what it termed risk management systems to enhance welfare of animals through monitoring.

“Our business is to ensure every animal is free from cruelty. Instead of waiting until animals are already dying, we want governments to respond ahead of such occurrences by putting aside funds to address such disasters,” said the organisation’s director for Africa Tennyson Williams, who spoke in Nanyuki yesterday during the launch of the campaign.

Mr Williams noted that livelihoods were destroyed when animals died in disasters. “This affects not just the family, but the community and country’s economy at large,” he said. 

He added: “Among other things, we will have specialised training for veterinary officers so they can respond to such disasters quickly and ensure the animal are evacuated as soon as possible. This may include establishing holding centres before actual evacuation.”

Agriculture and Livestock executive Lucy Murugi said the county government had made significant progress in enhancing animal protection.

We are doing this through legislation and animal census to establish their numbers so we can plan how best to protect them, said Dr Murugi.

She added: “We are making deliberate efforts to ensure there is regular vaccination of animals to protect them from disease outbreaks.”

The global campaign will support all countries on policies, capacity building and financing to achieve the Sendai Framework on protection of livelihoods.

Sendai Framework is a global initiative where world leaders and experts on disaster preparedness and response met in Japan and came up with ideas on how to protect animals caught up in disasters.

Kenya is among countries that signed the agreement.

Henry Mutembei, from College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences at UoN, said his institution has incorporated disaster management in its curriculum.

“Our mandate in this campaign is to train everyone from the grassroots to technical level so the knowledge on animal welfare and disaster management is propagated, preserved and transmitted to the next generations,” said Prof Mutembei.

Some of the livestock keepers who attended the event urged the county government to repossess animal holding grounds within ranches they claimed were grabbed.